RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME
by ektros
Summary: Veronica Lodge is the kind of girl who's got many secrets. But this one is something that could destroy people she cares about... / Veronica has feelings for Archie. She refuses to acknowledge them, but when he finds her drunk and things get heated between them, things start to get rather complicated...varchie, with some bettyxjughead.
1. Chapter 1

Veronica Lodge was the type of girl who had a lot more secrets than most. The rich, spoiled city girl had done many things that she regretted in her time, and she had many secrets she had sworn to herself that she'd never share. She stuck by that vow – even though there was a chance that the secrets might come out by themselves. Before they could, though, Veronica and her mother moved to Riverdale, where Ronnie really hoped she could have a fresh start.

At first, everything was fine. Other than the fact that there was a murderer in amongst them, she liked it at Riverdale. She liked the people, she had real friends here – not just people who wanted her for her money – and it all seemed to be going okay. But Ronnie was harbouring yet another secret, this time one that could never be told.

Since Cheryl's after party, on the night of the semi-formal, Veronica had been struggling to hold back blossoming feelings for Archie Andrews. Also known as the boy her best friend liked. It was wrong on so many levels, but she'd never felt like that when someone kissed her before. She'd never felt her heart race the way it did when she saw Archie. She'd never had any of the things they described in books and movies, until she met Archie Andrews. It was so wrong, but she couldn't just tell herself to stop feeling something for him.

She wasn't entirely sure it was hidden, though. Because a conversation she'd had with Archie the other day had put her on the spot a little...

 _Ronnie looked down at the sound of another girl's name tumbling from Archie's lips. She tried to hold back her frown, but clearly wasn't very good at it, because his eyes were focused on her face. "Valerie, huh?"_

 _He gave her an odd look, and she shook her head immediately. "No, I endorse this!"_

" _You jealous, Ronnie?" he asked, and he had that stupidly charming grin on his face._

 _ **YES!**_ _Her mind screamed, but Ronnie swallowed the temptation to tell him the truth, and instead said something else. "Please. I've had my seven minutes in heaven with Archie Andrews." Oh, how she wished she didn't have to lie to him. She wished this wasn't wrong. But it was._

Veronica had decided that she wanted to distance herself from Archie, but she knew for a fact that it wasn't going to be that simple.

Monday rolled around, and Ronnie walked into school alone, keeping her head down in the hopes of avoiding her friends. As well as Archie.

Being alone wasn't going to be fun, but being around that stupidly amazing ginger boy was only going to make things worse for everyone. She didn't want to be the same basic bitch from New York – who'd have dated him without even a second thought – because this place was supposed to be her fresh start. So staying away felt like the only option. Even though it really wasn't what she wanted.

She approached her locker and opened it quietly, slipping a few notebooks from her bag into her locker, and then pulled out a beautifully patterned notebook with lots of pages. She ran her fingers across the spine of the notebook before slipping it into her bag. She slammed her locker shut, turning to walk back the way she came when she spotted a blur of ginger in the crowd. There was Archie, with Betty and Jughead. None of them had seen her yet.

Ronnie turned on her heel and walked the other way, heading out towards the back of the school.

She could have sworn she heard Jughead say, "Was that Ronnie?" but decided she must have been imagining it.

She ended up sitting on one of the benches outside, writing away in her notebook. She figured writing down how she was feeling and what she was thinking would help. Her secrets had to be saved somewhere, and since she certainly couldn't tell anyone about this one, she wrote them all down. Ronnie's tongue poked out slightly in concentration as she wrote.

 _Of course I had to go and fall for the one boy that I can't have. Archie Andrews. Why did we have to kiss in that closet at Cheryl's? Why did he have to turn out to be different, and just the kind of guy I'm looking for, now that I know we can never be together? Life just has to work that way, doesn't it? Betty would never forgive me if I dated Archie, which wouldn't happen anyway because he doesn't feel anything for me, I'm sure of it. He's too busy going after_ _ **Valerie**_ _now...yeah, okay, maybe I am jealous. I won't let him know that, though._

"Veronica?"

She almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of a voice. She quickly slammed the notebook shut and put the lid back on her pen, before gingerly looking upwards to meet Jughead's gaze. He was alone – eyebrows raised as he looked her up and down.

"Oh! Hey, Jug." She smiled in what was probably the most fake manner on the planet, and slid her notebook and pen back into her bag. "What's up?"

"I came to ask you the same thing. Can I sit?" he asked.

"Of course." She replied.

Jughead sat down opposite her, eyes completely focused on hers as if he were reading her like an open book. Ronnie had no idea why, but it made her feel a little exposed. She folded her arms, eyebrows arching.

"Whatever it is you have to say, spit it out, Jughead." Veronica said, after a minute or two of silence. She felt nervous, though there wasn't really an explanation for that. Maybe it was because she knew how smart Jughead was, and really, if he tried to piece everything together, it'd make sense to him.

"Something's wrong with you." He said, at last. "I can't figure out what, but something's wrong. Has been for a while, I think. It's like you're...holding yourself back from something. Pushing people away because of whatever it is. But you should know that we're your friends, and you don't have to push us away no matter what it is that's going on." He told her, eyes searching hers. "Do you wanna talk?"

"No!" Veronica said quickly. "No, no, I'm fine. You're wrong." The lies were coming out far too easily. "I'm just tired because I was up late arguing with my mom. It's not great, but...it happens."

Jughead rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Ronnie. I'm not six. I know that's not true."

He was good. _Too_ good. "How?"

"Well, actually, Archie taught me how to tell when both you and Betty are lying." Jughead shrugged. "There's one telltale detail for both of you. It's not something obvious, so you'd never notice you do it, but Archie noticed. Now I've noticed too."

"What? C'mon, you can't tell me I do something and then not tell me what it is." Veronica protested, pouting.

Jughead laughed. "You start ever-so-slightly biting your lip when you're lying, plus you talk really fast."

Veronica's eyebrows raised. "Archie noticed that?" she asked, despite herself.

"Yeah." Jughead shrugged. "He notices a lot of things about you, you know."

Ronnie felt her cheeks flushing and her heart began to race, but she stopped herself quickly before she started smiling. She couldn't give herself false hope, and she certainly couldn't risk anyone, especially Betty, finding out how she felt. It'd break her and Ronnie would lose her. She didn't want that.

"Hey, guys!" Archie's voice called out, as he and Betty walked down the stairs and began making their way towards them.

Veronica panicked and gathered up her things, shoving them carelessly into her bag. "I gotta go."

"Where are you going?" Jughead asked, looking from Archie and Betty to Veronica.

"I, um...wanted to look into more extra-curricular stuff. So. See you!" with that, she placed her bag on her shoulder and walked away, just as Archie and Betty got to the table she'd been sitting at with Jug moments before.

"What's with her?" Betty asked, as Archie stared after Ronnie.

Jughead was watching Veronica's retreating back thoughtfully, his eyes flickering from her, to Archie, to Betty, then back.

"I have no idea." He replied. "But I'm gonna find out."


	2. Chapter 2

"Ronnie! Wait up!" Archie's voice called out from somewhere behind her.

Wincing, Veronica debated on just continuing to walk, but her body seemed to act of its own accord. She stopped and turned to look at Archie, giving a small, uncertain smile. "What's up?"

"You've been avoiding us all day. I assume there's a reason." He said, as he got closer.

Veronica couldn't look him in the eye, so kept her gaze cast downwards as he fell into step beside her, the two of them walking. "I'm not avoiding you."

"Oh really? Because that's sure as hell what it feels like." Archie muttered, and Veronica was startled at the anger in his tone. He let out a long sigh, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, it's just...things are rough at home right now."

"Are you okay?" Veronica asked, without thinking. It was almost instinct for her to make sure he was okay, although she sort of hated herself for it. How could she get over him if she was constantly worrying about him?

"I'm...surviving. That's as good as it gets right now." he admitted. "But that's not what we're talking about right now."

The raven-haired girl looked away from him, trying to summon up the courage to just walk away from him. But it was almost like a magnet was drawing her to him – she couldn't just walk off. "Archie, I'm fine."

"I don't think you are." He replied, immediately. "You're staying away from everyone. Me and Betty in particular. Why would you do that?"

"Please, just stop." Veronica muttered.

Archie looked startled. "What?"

"Stop asking!" she stopped walking and turned to face him, causing him to stop too. The two of them just stood there for a moment, staring at each other, before Veronica spoke again. "You don't care, and you never will, so why are you asking me what's wrong and why I'm avoiding you? It's just like the way things were before I got here."

"Ronnie..." Archie took a step forwards, coming far too close. The sound of her nickname was like heaven sliding from his lips, and if she weren't so damn sure of how wrong it was, she'd be closing what little distance remained between them and kissing him.

But she couldn't. He wasn't hers to kiss, wasn't hers to love, and he never would be either of those things. So Veronica stepped back, drawing in a deep breath.

"Just pretend like you never met me, okay?" she whispered. "For all of your sakes, just act like I don't exist." Tears prickled in her eyes as she turned away.

Archie's hand reached out, fingers closing gently around her wrist. "We can't do that, Veronica." He paused. Then, in barely a whisper... " _I_ can't do that."

Her heart caught in her throat and her stomach filled with butterflies but Veronica had to keep reminding herself that she could never be with him. Betty would never forgive her. Not only that, it'd destroy the friendship between Archie and Betty, and that would make everything else crumble. Veronica was going to destroy them, and she wouldn't let that happen.

"At least try." She whispered, a tiny sob escaping her as she pulled away from Archie and took off down the hallway, walking right up until she got to the corner, and then she bolted for the girls' locker rooms, tears streaming down her face.

She sat on one of the benches, dumping her bag beside her, and lowered her head into her hands. She couldn't be around any of them anymore. Her feelings for Archie clearly weren't going away, and if she continued trying to act normal with him, eventually she'd break and someone would notice and everything around them would shatter. She couldn't be the reason that everything her friends loved and wanted fell apart. She wouldn't.

Even if it meant her being alone, she'd stay away from them.

"Veronica?" the voice of Cheryl Blossom floated into her ears, and Veronica didn't even bother hiding her tears as she looked up. To the latter's great surprise, the redhead girl's features suddenly twisted into concern and she sat down next to the raven haired beauty. "What happened?"

Veronica allowed herself to remember the day when the roles were switched – Cheryl, crying here because of Jason, and Veronica comforting her. Now, here Veronica was, crying here because of her friends, and Cheryl's right there offering to comfort her. Even though the other girl was a bitch, she was the right kind of bitch to fit with Veronica.

"I just..." Veronica sighed, shaking her head. "It doesn't even matter. I was just stupid enough to believe I could actually have a fresh start here. Stupid enough to think that..." she trailed off.

"Did your friends do this to you?" Cheryl asked, reaching across to place her hand on Ronnie's back.

"Sort of. But it's not their fault. It's mine. Maybe it's easier for me to be alone – all I do is destroy everything I touch." Veronica said quietly.

"I know that feeling." Cheryl replied gently, and Veronica looked up to meet her gaze. They exchanged a weak smile, and Cheryl brought Veronica in to hug her. "If you ever need to talk about something – you know where to find me."

"Why would you wanna help me?" asked Veronica, as Cheryl got up to leave.

The redhead smiled at her. "Because you helped me when nobody else would, so I feel like I should do the same for you."

With that, she was gone, leaving Veronica to her thoughts.

"He was so hot!" Kevin gushed, grinning widely. "Even hotter than I remember."

"How can he have been even hotter than you remember? If he were that hot in the first place, surely you would've noticed." Jughead pointed out.

"That's so not the point." Kevin rolled his eyes. "Don't go all smartass on me. The point is, he's actually a really nice person. He ticks all the boxes!"

Betty laughed. "Finally, you've actually found someone you can date!"

"Well, we're not exclusively dating yet, but..." as Kevin went off on another fangirling tangent, Archie zoned back out, staring into space as Veronica's words echoed through his mind.

 _Just pretend like you never met me._

How could she say that? How could she expect him – expect _them –_ to just forget about her when she'd left such an impact on them all?

 _You especially,_ a little voice whispered in his mind, but Archie pushed the thought away. This wasn't the time to be thinking about how he felt for Veronica. This was about her being his friend. _Your very amazing and very_ _ **hot**_ _friend,_ said that little voice again, and the ginger boy rolled his eyes, trying again to dismiss the thoughts.

"What's up with you?" Kevin asked, nudging Archie. "I normally never have enough silence to talk about myself. What's going through that mind of yours?"

Jughead was looking at Archie with narrowed eyes, suspicion written across his features. His hand was resting on the table, intertwined with Betty's, and for a moment Archie imagined what it would be like to hold Veronica's hand like that. Then, realizing what he'd just thought, Archie shook his head and stood up, grabbing his bag.

"I'm gonna go meet Val to work on some more lyrics." He said quickly, eyes averted downwards. He felt Jughead's suspicion rising, but didn't care as he made as quick of an exit as he could.

 _Just pretend like you never met me._

 _Oh, Ronnie. How can I do that when I'm in love with you?_


End file.
